Homeowner Tax Deductions

One of the most useful yet widely misunderstood benefits of homeownership is tax deductions. Tax deductions are a welcome gift from the government, but if you’re renting, they benefit your landlord, not you.

Property tax deduction: Any money you paid during the year you purchase and in the years afterward to local state, county and city property tax assessors is tax deductible.

Mortgage interest deduction: Your mortgage interest on both first and second liens is tax deductible. Any points you paid to obtain a lower interest rate are deductible. Private mortgage insurance payments are also deductible.

Closing costs: Some fees to the mortgage lender are deductible. Ask your tax professional for guidance. You can deduct some moving expenses, such as items for home offices. Save your Hud-1 form and show it to your tax professional.

Home office deductions: If your home is your principle place of business, and you meet other IRS guidelines for home businesses, you can take a deduction on workspace dedicated to your business and no other purpose. You can also depreciate that portion of your home over 39 years. All improvements to the workspace are tax deductible. In addition, your security expenses, phones, internet costs, computers, insurance, and utilities can be deducted or depreciated according to IRS allowances. Percentages and limits apply, so talk to your tax professional.

Energy Star: If you purchased an energy efficient system or appliance for your home and it meets government Energy Starstandards, you may deduct a portion of your expenses. Save your receipts.

Property sales deductions: If you purchased a home today, occupied it as a primary residence, and sold it in two years, you could be eligible for some capital gains exclusions up to $250,000 if you’re single, or $500,000 if you’re married. You can even live in the home two years, rent it out for three years, and still enjoy the capital gains exclusion.

There may be many other deductions out there for you to take advantage of that are associated with your home, so save all receipts throughout the year for repairs, parts, purchases, remodeling, etc. Some allowances and special circumstances apply, so before taking this exclusion, be sure to talk to your tax professional.

Save your tax records up to seven years, because you have to be able to support the deductions you take with documentation such as receipts, credit card statements, cancelled checks, and online banking. Make sure you take deductions and depreciation only for legitimate items.

Remember all the benefits you could be getting in deductions, your landlord is currently enjoying while billing all costs associated with managing the home to you. Wouldn’t you rather do that yourself?

 

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House Buying Traps!

Making the first home purchase involves a lot of complicated processes, not to mention a huge financial risk. Those who wish to buy their own houses should be committed to the mortgage they are willing to secure. And just like many important life decisions, buying a home involves emotional struggles that could lead to poor decision making.

There are many mortgage traps that could endanger an unprepared first home owner. Take note of the following traps to avoid falling into one:

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Making decisions based mainly on emotion

One thing about buying a house or anything in particular is that you don’t let your emotions cloud your judgment. The most common thing that happens to home buyers is that they like a property too much to the point where they just go ahead with the purchase despite their obvious inability to afford it. The anxiety of liking a house too much contributes to poorly made decisions that could someday lead to dire financial situations.

To avoid this trap, the best thing to do is to first secure a mortgage approval and using the approved amount as your basis for the range of homes that you can afford. This can help you stay away from expensive properties that could make you fall in love.

Auctions

Auctions are most popular home-buying traps are auction events. Those who participate in the auction are sometimes easily forced into paying an excessive amount of money for a property as results of the bidding competition. Again, emotion is another factor here. Sudden impulses can lead to an escalating battle between bidders and end up with the winner paying more than what the property is supposed to cost. In short, the winner pays in excess of the value he or she gets in return.

Ironically, some participants are afraid to bid. Instead, they make offers that are too expensive to avoid competing bids. Such actions are just plain dangerous, not to mention a waste of hard earned money. Somewhere down the road, a recession or economic downturn can hit harder once the price of the auctioned property declines.

Applying the ‘Self-Fix” Theory

Another home-buying trap that ensnares a lot of people involve self-fixes. Some buyers decide to purchase properties that require extensive repairs and renovation, which of course they will do themselves in the belief that they will be able to save a hefty amount of money. The problem here is the buyers’ overestimation of their abilities to apply the necessary fixes. More often than not, the actual repair and renovation costs would exceed the estimated amount.

As much as possible, a first home owner should distance himself or herself from emotional factors when buying a house. The key is to be logical and practical, which means you have to spend within your means.

http://www.robertjrussell.com

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Finding a Good Real Estate Mentor

If you are one of those people who find themselves in a dead end job, working long hours for little pay, you may have longed for a way to achieve financial freedom. Everyone has seen the stories of those who have changed their lives through real estate.

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It has the potential to give you everything you want in life, but don’t be fooled, it is not as easy as it looks. Any successful realtor will tell you, it takes education and hard work. So, what is the best way to learn how to work in real estate? Finding a good real estate mentor is the optimal solution.

What makes a good mentor? Everyone has had mentors in their lives. People along the way who teach and inspire you to achieve more. Whether it be a teacher, an elder relative, or a friend, a good mentor educates by example. The same is true with a real estate mentor. A good mentor will show you all the aspects you need to know about to start real estate. It should be someone who has achieved success in the industry and has the experience and tools they can impart to you.

Research is the key to finding a good real estate mentor. They should be able to prove their experience and expertise in the field. They will be knowledgeable in multiple strategies and be able to show you what works and what doesn’t. They will probably be in demand for coaching seminars and one on one training. It is important to find out exactly what you will learn from them and how much they charge for their services. Using someone who has only been in the business for less than 5 years is simply not a good idea unless this person has done over 100 transactions in that amount of time.

Establishing a relationship with the mentor is an important step. You need to know that this is someone you can work with and take direction from. You should be willing to do whatever it takes to be a value to your mentor. If you offer to do all the legwork on a deal, you will go a long way in proving yourself worthy to them. You may be able to offset the cost of your mentoring with work you can do for them. However, you will have to show that you are seriously dedicated to learning all the aspects of the business. Real estate is a highly competitive and challenging industry, and tenacity is essential to success.

As with learning anything in life, it is important to have a good teacher. A real estate mentor should be able to teach you what you need to start your career, while avoiding mistakes and pitfalls. With hard work and an experienced mentor, you have a chance to make your goals in life a reality in real estate.

Robert J Russell, IRES, ICREA, LAS, LUTCF, REALTOR and Licensed Insurance Broker has been in business for 30 yrs and has helped people all over the world with Real Estate and Insurance. Find out more on how he could be your next mentor – visit http://www.robertjrussellcompanies.com

 

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Real Estate Tax Sales

I’ve got a few questions in mind about over the counter liens lately. Apparently there are some tax lien investing “experts” out there telling people that tax lien sales are so competitive that you are better off buying the OTC tax liens and deeds that are left over from previous tax sales.

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These gurus tell you can get good liens at the maximum interest rate by purchasing these liens directly from the county. And that if you purchase liens from the county that were struck off to the county 2 or 3 years ago, you will be able to foreclose right away.

Part of this is true, if you purchase an older lien from the county, you will be able to start the foreclosure process sooner, because the redemption period has already started, and may already be over. But have you considered that if tax sales are so competitive that you’re not likely to get a “good” interest rate at the tax sale, there may not be any good liens left-over after the sale. Many counties will re-bid properties that don’t sell the first time, either right after the sale is over, or in another tax sale. So in many counties tax properties have to survive 2 tax sales before they get onto that left-over list. Almost all of the left-over properties are junk properties. Yes you can get the maximum interest rate, yes you will probably be able to foreclose and get the property – in which case you do not get your money back. And then how are you going to sell an unbuildable piece of land, or otherwise junk property and get your money out of your investment?

Sometimes a good property does get onto the OTC list, but that’s usually not because it didn’t get any bids in the tax sale. Sometimes bidders don’t have the proper form of payment, or don’t pay up by the deadline. In that case the property will go onto the left-over list. But there are thousands of investors who wait until this list is available and bid on these properties right away. And since properties on this list are offered on a first come, first serve basis, the early bird gets the worm. The juicy worms are pretty much gone by daybreak!

There are investors who do well using this strategy. For one thing it is very time intensive. You really have to do your due diligence carefully if you want a deal and not a dud. The best way to work this strategy is to be at the tax sale and note which tax liens are not sold, and then get that left-over list as soon as its published and take action immediately. This way you will know what properties are likely to be on the list from the last sale that are good properties and not junk, and you can do your due diligence on these properties ahead of time. So that when the list comes out you can submit a bid right away.

Robert J Russell is licensed in Real Estate & Insurance – visit http://www.robertjrussellcompanies.com to find out more about investments and real estate.

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Using a Realtor to Search for a Home

According to the 2015 National Association of Realtors Generational Trends Report, when beginning the home search process the first step is to begin looking for a home online. This is consistent across all Generations, from Millennials to Boomers.

More experienced home buyers, those over 50, tend to find a home faster, on average about 8 weeks, compared to 11 weeks for those under 50. Older buyers are more experienced, more likely to know exactly what they want and less likely to settle, and more likely to have more capital from the sale of a previous home compared to a first time buyer.

Of all the steps involved in the home purchase process, including obtaining a loan and understanding contracts, more than half of respondents identified finding the right home as the most difficult part. When surveyed, 53% of respondents stated that they wanted help from an agent with finding the right home, compared to 12% for negotiating terms and 11% for price negotiation.

In seeking out an agent to represent them, younger buyers tend to prefer honesty and trustworthiness, while older buyers tend to prefer agents that have strong knowledge of the neighborhood and property values.

When asked to list skills considered to be “very important” when selecting an agent to represent them, 97% listed honesty/integrity, 94% listed responsiveness, 93% listed knowledge of the real estate process, and 91% listed market knowledge as a very important skill.

Buyers from the younger generations are more likely to be involved in their first home purchase, and will want help understanding the process. Older home purchasers, who have likely been through the process once before and are also more inclined to move farther distances from their previous residence may be less familiar with their new neighborhood, and will need an expert to help them learn the finer points.

All buyers, regardless of age benefit from an agent who can point out the less obvious features and faults of a property, and work one who will work with the buyer to find the home that is right for them at the right price.

In the end, buyers and sellers want a comfortable and smooth real estate process. They want to know they are in good and capable hands, and that they will get the best deal possible, whether they are buying or selling. An honest, capable and trustworthy agent can deliver that.

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The Future: Who Will Dominate Real Estate

As the housing market continues to pick up steam and climb out of the dark hole it was once in, many are wondering who will be the next biggest force in the market, the Millennials or the Boomers. While the Millennials unquestionably make up a huge segment of recent home buyers, they still face many barriers to home ownership that were unseen by previous generations.

Millennials, also knows as Generation Y, face many challenges and hurdles when considering a home purchase. First of all, enormous student debt, as well as credit card debt make saving seem impossible. Continued underemployment among college graduates and rising rents nationwide make saving actually impossible. In fact, according to a survey of recent home buyers, 22% of Millennials reported difficulty in saving the down payment, compared to only about 15% for Generation Y.

A recent report from Bloomberg listed the 13 United States cities considered unaffordable for Millennials. Of those 13, 6 were in California, including the entire top 5. Los Angeles came in at number 3, just behind the tech hubs of San Jose and San Francisco.

In spite of this, Millennials are making an impact. According to the National Association of Realtors 2015 Home Buyer & Seller Generational Trends report, Millennials represented the largest share of recent home buyers, at 32%. The Boomers, or those aged 50 to 68 came in second at 31%, with Generation X (35 to 49 years old) at 27%. The Silent Generation, or those aged 69 and up represented 10% of recent buyers. (Some may classify the Silent Generation as Boomers, which would raise their overall percentage to 41%, taking the top spot.)

One interesting statistic was that 13% of recent buyers bought a multi-generational home, and 37% of those were due to adult children moving back home with their parents. Yes, the vast majority of these are underemployed Millennials.

As the job prospects for Millennials improve, and the student debt gets paid off, Millennials will no doubt prove to be the dominant player in the real estate market. With the low inventory, staggering home prices and continually rising rents, they still have a ways to go.

For the Boomers, the path is much easier. First of all, due tot heir age and past life experiences, most are already homeowners. Second, as they retire, send their kids off to college and out of the house (hopefully), many are looking to downsize or move closer to friends and family. These are the two most popular factors currently leading Boomers to list their homes.

Boomers also have significantly more capital, often resulting from the sale of a previous home, and can offer larger down payments. When it comes to financing a home purchase, 88% of recent purchases were financed. Of those, the typical down payment was 10%. The lower down payment was far more common with buyers under 50, as the Boomers have maintained more traditional down payments of 20%. When it comes to all cash sales, the month of May saw only 24.6% of sales closed with all cash, which is the lowest level since November of 2009, according to RealtyTrac.. The level of institutional investors, or those that purchase at least 10 properties each month have also dropped to 2.4% of recent sales, the lowest figure ever recorded.

It should be noted, however, that foreign investment, especially in Los Angeles is on the rise. The Chinese were the primary foreign investors in U.S. real estate, and were responsible for 16% of all home closings last year. In total, Chinese buyers spent over $28 billion on U.S real estate. Of that, 35% was in California alone. The main factors for this investment are the great schools in the state, and the various industries offered, such as tech, film, agriculture, manufacturing and finance.

A positive sign is that Millennials do recognize the value of home ownership, and they do want it. When viewed as an investment, 80% of respondents viewed a home purchase as a good investment., and that is across all age demographics. Compared to stocks, 70% of respondents believe home ownership to be as good as or better than stocks.

Builders are beginning to take notice of the Boomers. According to the National Association of Home Builders, there has been a substantial increase in residential construction spending during the month of May. In fact, for multi-family construction, spending is up over 20% from May 2014. In terms of single-family homes, the increase was just over 11% from last year. Here in Los Angeles, inventory levels are still historically low, hovering around a 3-month supply. Hopefully, as the pace of single-family construction increases, the inventory will as well. The NAHB notes that the pace of multi-family construction spending is slowing, and they expect the funding for single-family homes to increase for the rest of the year.

In terms of sales, the month of May saw the highest level of existing home sales since 2009. For new home sales, the level was the highest since 2006, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

Older buyers, particularly the Boomers tend to often prefer newer homes, as they have fewer problems associated with them and require substantially less renovation and updating. Millennials however, often in search for the best deal, ware more inclined to consider a potential fixer.

According to the National Association of Realtors 2015 Home Buyer & Seller Generational Trends report, suburbs/subdivisions are still the most desirable home location, according to 53% or respondents. Small towns came in second, with 20%, followed by urban areas and city centers with just 16%.

As Millennials continue to come of age, enter their prime income earning and family producing years, they will unquestionably dominate the real estate market. However, as home prices continue to rise, and rents continue to limit the saving capacity of Millennials, the retiring Boomers will likely keep buying the expensive new houses in the Suburbs.

Please do not hesitate to contact me for further information. Also, read some of my past client testimonials and hear first hand about the quality of service I provide.

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Local Online Marketing Important for Business

Local businesses that serve a particular geographical area can no longer depend on traditional marketing methods, like listing their businesses on physical yellow pages or distributing brochures, to drive sales. In this day and age, local online marketing has become a necessity for local businesses.

If you need help, please don’t hesitate to contact me directly.

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Importance of a good business structure

Most Los Angeles and Southern California business owners and entrepreneurs start their businesses as
sole practitioners, or perhaps two or three individuals starting a partnership. During these early stages of the
company’s development, proper infrastructure might not be too important things are less formal and the
owner or owners are often able to run things on kind of a “seat of the pants” basis.
As the company grows, however, establishing a formal infrastructure becomes more important.
When a company reaches the ten employee level, it needs to make sure that proper financial and operational
infrastructure is in place if it wants to be successful and progress to the next level of growth.
Financial Statements and Forecasts
A key component of your financial and operational infrastructure is your financial statements, which consist
of the cash flow statement, balance sheet and profit and loss statement (or P&L). These should be prepared
by a trained accountant or CPA and be in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (or
GAAP). Financial forecasts are another important component of your financial infrastructure.
There are many potential pitfalls to not having a sound infrastructure in place as your company grows:
1.It will be difficult, if not impossible, to recruit venture capitalists, angels and other investors.
2.Ditto when it comes to obtaining a bank loan.
3.You and your managers will become frustrated with the inability to get answers to your questions
about the company’s financial condition.
4.The company’s cash flow will suffer and you may be unable to pay obligations on time.
5.Internal control problems may arise, possibly leading to fraud and embezzlement.
6.Financial management will be impacted, likely leading to wasted funds.
7.Your accountant or CPA will not have the timely financial data needed to accurately compile your tax
returns.
8.It will be difficult to generate the cost accounting and schedules needed for break even analysis to
assist you with gauging profitability.

Thinking of starting a business – Call Robert J Russell – sales coach 972.292.8967

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Real Estate Marketing

Put Some Punch Behind Your Real Estate Marketing by Adding 3D & 2D Renderings

The real estate market has become increasingly competitive and everyone is looking for ways to generate more business. Neuroscience and psychology tell us that humans are visually driven creatures. The right image or photo captures our attention and makes us take notice. By just enhancing your visual offerings in your real estate marketing collateral your properties will go from ho hum to AWESOME instantly!

3D 2D real estate marketing renderings

 

 

 

 

 

One way to put some punch behind your real estate marketing campaigns is to use high quality 3D or 2D renderings.

These are great for both commercial and residetial projects. Often it’s hard for prospects to visualize what an empty or cluttered space could look like, and they will often dismiss a property because they cannot visualize how it could meet their exact needs. Sometimes working up a sample rendering for renovation projects, tenant improvement options in 2nd generation spaces or even build-out ideas for vanilla box or dark shell spaces, can help prospects see their new space in a whole new light. Not to mention, you’ve now added more value to the services you are providing to your client than just showing the space as-is! Taking the time to show prospects what a space could look like with a sample rendering allows them to visualize the possibilities of an otherwise empty or unusable space.

But what about larger projects like, master planned communities, office or industrial parks, high rise and condo developments, or city revitalization projects? If you’ve got a listing on a project where you are not able to get quality images or the ones you have are just plain boring, how the heck are you going to get the market to take notice if your imagery is subpar? This is your listing and time is ticking! You don’t have time to run down whatever renderings the project architect may have, and you don’t have to settle for those one dimensional, boring architectural drawings either! Instead, you can take the bull by the horns and have a customized, full-color rendering created quickly and easily!

A great looking rendering that highlights your property can easily increase potential buyers or tenants interest, as well as win the attention of new landlord and seller business. An attractive 3D photorealistic rendering will absolutely help your properties and your real estate marketing collateral stand out from the masses.

Imagine how a detailed and colorful site plan or floor plan would impress your landlords and sellers when you pitch them for their property listing. Showing them what you are going to do to make their property stand out will no doubt impress!

A quick word on mapping. Sure, you can grab a screen shot from Google and add a few pins and stars to it. But isn’t that what everyone else is doing? Here’s the perfect opportunity to create a map that is customized with your company’s brand logo, colors and look. 2D and 3D maps created to show your listing’s location, surrounding retailers, restaurants, major highways, and whatever else your heart (or client’s heart) desires will give you yet another opportunity to show off your real estate marketing offerings.

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Building Your Brand

brand

Content marketing is a great way to build your brand online. With the right kind of content, you can build and optimize your brand on the Internet so that it brings more traffic to your website and more sales to your business. More importantly, it can improve the overall image of the business and results in more sales, referrals, and consequently, more website traffic. The cycle goes on and on.

But if content marketing is so effective for branding, how come a lot of small and medium-sized businesses are struggling in building their brand through content? What challenges do business owners like you face and what can you do to overcome them?

Brand Awareness: Top Content Marketing Goal

It’s important to first understand the link between content marketing and branding. By now, many marketers – probably your competition included – have already realized the power of content when it comes to boosting brands. According to a study by the Content Marketing Institute (CMI) and Marketing Profs, the No. 1 reason why organizations use content marketing is to raise brand awareness. Some 79% of marketers surveyed said so.

Other goals that scored high in the survey are customer acquisition (71%), customer retention / loyalty (65%), engagement (64%), and website traffic (62%). However, brand awareness is the only goal that nearly broke the 80% mark. Obviously, today’s businesses want to improve their branding online and are using content to make it happen.

Content Improves Branding, Website Traffic & Sales

Now if branding is the top priority for content marketers, how then do they measure success? Still according to the CMI and MarketingProfs research, majority of marketers cite web traffic as their main metric (66%). Others said they measure content marketing success by looking at social media sharing (52%), time spent on website (46%), and direct sales (44%), among others.

Indeed, the right mix of content marketing that boosts your brand will result to more traffic, engagement, shares and sales.

Building Brand through Content: Challenges

Many marketers understand that for them to build their brand and generate traffic for the website as well, they need to market online using content. However, this is easier said than done. A lot of small business owners struggle with content marketing—much of this has to do with shortage of various resources to make it happen.

Looking at the answers of survey respondents for a study by CMI and MarketingProfs shows lack of time (24%) is the biggest hindrance to implementing content marketing. Lack of budget (16%), producing the kind of content that engages (13%), and producing enough content (10%) are also major challenges for business owners. From here, you’ll notice that these resources are needed in this strategy: time, money, and technical skills. Does this situation sound familiar?

Let it Go: Solve Most Challenges with 1 Solution

You already know that the top goal of organizations in content marketing is to build brand awareness. You also know that they are faced with several challenges in doing so, such as lack of time and budget. Many business owners are stalled by these hindrances. But here’s the good news. You don’t have to be one of them. Here’s the solution in two words: Our Company.

A survey by Aweber found that in smaller businesses, the CEO also serves as the primary marketer as well. In this setup, marketing takes a backseat because you are preoccupied with running the core business. As for branding? It tends to be forgotten; at least until you notice that you are losing customers to competitors with stronger branding. This should not be the case.

While you cannot do anything to increase the amount of hours you have in a day, you can dedicate a portion of your revenue to content marketing done for you by us. Remember that content marketing helps in both brand optimization, traffic generation, engagement, shares  and sales. No one else can run the core business like you can, but there are agencies like us who can take care of branding and content marketing for you.

Your Brand Needs Engaging Content Now

The tricky part, with assigning your content marketing efforts to agencies, is knowing which content can be used for both brand optimization and traffic generation. What type of content is effective enough to yield both results? Indeed this is a nuisance. Should you ask the marketing agency to create typical SEO articles? Should you order press releases or product pages?

To understand what is “engaging,” you need to know what type of format your audience wants. In this regard, two formats stand out: videos and articles. Research by Gfk found that business decision makers prefer to get company information in a series of articles versus an advertisement. Marketers agree; some 72% of respondents in a Custom Content Council survey said branded content is more effective than magazine advertisements.

In the case of video, Accenture found that 90% of consumers actually watch online video. Here’s more: according to data collected by Animoto, 96% of consumers said they found videos helpful in making purchase decisions. Some 71% went as far as saying watching corporate videos left them with a positive impression of the brand.

When it comes to reach, engagement, and building the brand, the best content formats to use are videos and articles.

Optimizing Content for Both Brand & Traffic

In typical online marketing techniques, content is optimized by making it more “searchable” to search engines. This entails the proper categorization and tagging, as well as the inclusion of meta tags, which are keywords that communicate with search engines like Google. You can also use this approach when using content for branding – with a slight addition to the process.

When you want to use content for branding, it must be tailored to improve the image of the business. This means balancing and mixing your key messages to address both the needs of your target market and your brand. Progressive marketers are going in this direction. According to Forrester, 79% of marketers asked said their organizations are shifting to branded content.

While your customers appreciate it when you write about them, their needs, and how you can solve their problems, they also want to get to know you. They need to know if you are a brand they can trust and be loyal to, Remember, 62% of consumers prefer to buy from brands they are familiar with rather than try a new seller, a Nielsen study found.

This is your opportunity to help them get to know you. You need to highlight the strengths of your business and make potential and existing customers understand why they should deal with you. This might mean you’ll be exerting extra effort as branded articles and videos are more difficult to create, but if you succeed, you’ll not only get that website traffic you need, you’ll also be able to build and optimize your brand

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